


Accept her

by orphan_account



Series: Resonating with Death [1]
Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, F/M, Love, Slice of Life, Spoilers for Arcarum, Spoilers for Nier's fate episodes, Unrequited Love, Yandere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 15:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20449550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a single desperate moment, despite everything that had happened, the captain made his decision. In turn, the pactbearer of Death, once his enemy, found her entire worldview shattered into pieces.(A short look into what made Nier join the crew)





	Accept her

Killing has a scent.

It is not physical, not of the same vein as the smell of a fresh meal, but a tenseful, oppressive sensation that unleashes itself when weapons are drawn and lingers when lives are taken. It reeks of bloodstains, new or old, circular or erratic, but bitterly metallic all the same. It is the dust and ash on battlefields launched by sharp weapons and quaking artillery. It creeps among the darkness of torture chambers and prisons, where flesh is mutilated and the life it holds is then unjustly taken before its time.

Gran knows this scent well. The unfortunate truth is that there are too many bloodthirsty, unreasonable individuals across the skies and one does not become an accomplished skyfarer without taking the lives of others. He does not relish in it; he thinks of corpses and their rot are utterly disgusting and yet he understands as a captain that, in order to fulfil his duties and protect his crew, he cannot think of killing as absolutely wrong.

_(He once had a thought that if he was Bahamut, he'd bend fate so that Lyria and Vyrn never experienced the act of killing from him in the first place. But that train of thought is what led to the primal Akasha being created, so he was quick to dismiss it_.)

At times, knowing the scent of killing is a blessing. The moment he sees Nier stumble out of the bushes, his intuition flares up. Behind that delicate features and gentle clasped hands is a threat, much like the hungry gaze of a mimic peeing from beneath its lid. When she hands over the tarot card, alarm bells shriek in his head.

He matches her robes with the memories of shadowy figures in the center of Sephira Island. Recognizes her as a pawn of The World and a potential enemy. Lets himself be pulled into the memory of the War to deceive her as she believes to be deceiving him.

He fights the faux primal beasts, watches the card of Death fill with color as his kill count raises higher and higher. He anticipates the ambush, organizes a counterattack and with the help of his co-captain Djeeta and other seasoned veterans of the crew defeats Nier and the primal beast Death.

He does not deliver the finishing blow; she must be kept alive for information about Sephira and there was enough violence today regardless.

"If there's no place for us, our only option is to disappear from the world...maybe that would be for the best…"

However, Nier does not agree.

"Ah...why was I even born?" She asks, staring up at the endless sky.

"How sad... So sad... But perhaps that can be a path to salvation…" Death croons. She drags herself across the ground and grasps Nier's cheeks with her bony hands, "My beloved... Shall we end it?"

"Yes...Death, embrace me. Take it all from me."

In the end, Nier gives up. In her end, she embraces her pact partner and lets herself commit suicide that way. Death's scythes pierce her chest and Nier's bright blood blooms from the wound on her back like a bouquet of spider lilies. As jaws drop and mouths cry in fright, shadows envelop Nier's corpse and drag her down into the nothingness. The last thing Gran sees of her is an expression of quiet peace.

"You…!" Gran brandishes his sword towards Death, a yell rising from his throat, "How could you? I thought she was everything to you!"

"Because I love her... I granted her death…" Death moans, "My love is that of death. By sending my beloved to her demise, our love has become eternal. Yet, I...I…"

The accursed primal wails and sobs and transforms back into the completed tarot card. With its masters gone, the memory of the War cracks and disappears, ejecting Gran and his companions back into the real world. All they can do is pack up their gear and soothe their wounds, ruminating in a pyrrhic victory amidst the pungent afterglow of the scent of killing.

* * *

Lyria tries to communicate with Death afterwards, but the card remains unresponsive, save for the power brought forth by Lyria's usual summon call. Gran takes it and the journey continues. Nier fades into memory as an enemy, an omen of yet another threat on the horizon and a fragile young girl who despite everything did not deserve her fate.

Then Gran is in the basement of a deserted mansion at the behest of a mission, clutching a battered diary of Nier's and reading it with Lyria and Vyrn. Her history is exposed down to the very last strand. The Evoker of Death is a mass murderer. Her heart is twisted beyond even the most unscrupulous of the Grandcypher's crew. She experimented on the living to pervert the magic of life, killed her own family and ended up as a servant to primal beast intent on destroying and recreating this world anew.

Events cascade further and further. Nier is alive and amnesiac. The townsfolk that hired him burst into the basement and now they're aiming their guns at her. Death forces her way out of her card, renewing her contract with Nier and restoring her memories. She and Gran lock eyes and violence is swift to follow.

"Stop it, Nier!" Gran shouts, blocking Death's scythe with his sword, "Don't you see how futile this is?"

Nier trembles beneath his gaze. "Both Death and The World said we could have our own new world!" She rasps, "Those who refuse to acknowledge us have no place in the new world..."

"So once you've removed everyone, you and Death will be the only ones remaining." Lyria speaks up.

"That's right. Who do you think's gonna be left around to accept you?" Vyrn chimes in.

The way Nier freezes up at their words borders on the comical. She repeats them, mutters under her breath, then she blanches and collapses on the spot like a discarded puppet. Her primal partner falls still. Reject everything and everyone and you will be alone in the end. The weight of this painfully obvious knowledge has drained Nier and Death of all their strength.

This is how she is finally defeated, then? To think he could have said it instead of going through the trouble of fighting against all those fake primal beasts...Gran almost wants to laugh. He hears the harsh click of guns being primed and all humor vanishes in an instant.

"Fire!" the townsfolk's mayor shouts.

And then his body is throwing itself between Nier and the trajectory of the bullets. He can hear the cries of shock from Lyria and Vyrn and senses his muscles tensing up in anticipation of the incoming pain. He sees Nier shocked silent, mouthing the word 'why' and Gran asks himself the same.

It's a good question, considering the way Nier manipulated and tried to kill him and his crew. The contents of her diary are still fresh in his mind.

But perhaps, Gran understands Nier's loneliness somewhat.

He remembers being sobbing in the dark with Djeeta when their father's absence grew heavy. He remembers an entire village refusing to acknowledge their skyfaring dreams no many how times he shouted it. He remembers Nier's plea before, so innocent in her demise, and cursing himself and the world for letting her die.

And most of all, even though he knows full well what Nier did, even though it sickened him down to his very core, his very first thought when he finished reading her diary was: _I wish I could've saved her._

So, he does not stop and gladly lets the bullets pierce his back and shoulder.

It hurts about as he expected.

* * *

"Why?"

The skyfarer captain she deceived, fought and rejected is now on top of her, shielding her from a hail of bullets. His face twists in pain and rivulet of blood bursts from his mouth. A drop falls onto her cheek and she brushes her fingers at it.

"Is this blood? Gran, you're hurt…" Nier gasps.

"This? Just a scratch." Gran grunts out, wincing, "More importantly, are you okay?"

"Yes, because you protected me." She mumbles, then shakes her head. "But, no, that's not the point! You got hurt trying to…"

Protect her. A former (current?) enemy. She deceived him, rejected him even though he tried to convince her otherwise, attempted to take his life minutes ago. His action, lasting nary a second, contracts everything she holds to the world.

Her mind feels like it's falling down the Crimson Horizon. She wants to grab Gran and shake him until all his reasons fall out his skull. She wants to wipe her mind and go back in time when things still made sense. She wants to embrace him and never let go. Her life is in pieces and she can't remember the puzzle.

"Meddling skyfarers!" The leader of the townspeople growls, snapping Nier out of her thoughts. He aims his rifle at Gran's back. The rest of his cronies follow. "Finish them off!"

In that moment, Nier chooses. She knows little of Gran or his crew, but she won't let them die. She has to understand this impossible contradiction of a man. She snaps her head towards the townspeople and clenches her fists.

"Death!" She screams.

Red hot desperation flares inside her, seizing her magic and shoving it outwards. The scent of killing spreads through the basement like a toxic cloud. Death rushes forward in a vortex of shadows, brandishing her scythes in all her vicious beauty.

"Those who dare to hurt my beloved will pay... Yoo will all pay! I'll give yoo a death so gruesome yoo'll wish yoo were never born!" she roars.

A single glare from beneath Death's iron mask is enough to send the townspeople screaming and scurrying away like rats.

* * *

Digging out bullets never gets any less painful. Nier turns out to be a fantastic healer, however, and manages to eject the bullets and various debris and seal up his wounds in less than a minute. Gran flexes his shoulder—a slight ache, but no scars and the otherwise limb feels brand new.

The act of healing is a sharp contrast to the killing intent the girl radiated. How far would Nier have grown had she been encouraged instead of disparaged, he thinks with bitterness, as he sheathes his blade and adjusts his clothes. The many personas—his class outfits—rumble and murmur inside of him. The curious Doctor marvels at her skills. The ever-calm Sage warns of her instability. The spiteful Chaos Ruler scoffs at the how she scared those weak-hearted townsfolk into hiding, good riddance.

Gran sees Nier watching his movements from a kneeling position on the dungeon floor. Death towers over her, the ever-attentive protector. Their anger is gone and Nier is back to her usual timid, soft-spoken self.

"Why…why did you save me to begin with?" She asks, voice hoarse.

"My gut instinct was to protect you, Nier." Gran responds with the truth.

"But, even though I'm your enemy?" Nier stutters.

"That doesn't make a difference!" Lyria cries, and Gran and Vyrn nod, "We don't want you to die, Nier! You have every right to continue living, just like us!"

"Yep. That's all the reason we need to save you." Vyrn chimes in.

"So you saved me from death... because you want to see me alive and well?" Nier says, her disbelief clear. Gran and his companions nod in return.

Tears well up in the corners of Nier's eyes. "That's the first time I've had anyone say such a nice thing to me…" she sniffles.

A knot forms in Gran's stomach. The contents of Nier's diary replay themselves once more. A long and bloody history of false promises and broken trust until it all came crashing down on her head. What hurt the most was knowing it could've been avoided.

She is not devoid of guilt—too many victims, too much stolen life—but if her parents' love was truthful, if she met someone as accepting as Death before all the human experimentation, if she just understood that kindness, love and all the good in the world existed back then…

"If no-one will acknowledge me, then there'd be no point in creating a new world." Nier says. She looks ready to collapse again. "Is it really too much to ask for acceptance? Hey, Gran, what should I do?"

Gran once again stands at crossroads of fate, as Singularities are want to do. He knows what he says next will either become a lifeline for Nier or hammer in the last nails in her coffin. He thinks for an instant, draws a deep breath and decides.

He takes her hand, eliciting a small gasp from the girl. A blush forms on her cheeks. Her fingers are slender and gentle, like a pianist's. He looks her firmly in the eyes and speaks forth the resolve within his heart.

"Then let's look for another way together."

He can already hear Sandalphon shaking his head and muttering he and his sister were too bleeding-heart generous for captains of a crew with such great influence across the skies. Perhaps the imaginary Supreme Primarch is right. Accepting Nier will have consequences towards the standards of his crew. Perhaps Gran is foolish for entertaining the notion that Nier can be saved.

He thinks back again, to before they fought each other in the memory. How her face would light up when he returned. How genuine joy bloomed across her face like a beautiful rose whenever he sat down and talked about his progress, eventually to chatting with her about books and other topics. How her offer was the equivalent of sharing her greatest treasure with him.

Such a girl could not be without redemption and even now Gran believes it. He knows the world is not going to make this easy. But the world was selfish and cruel to the extent where Nier was crushed by it and Granhewants to spite it. He's done the seemingly impossible before and he can do it again. He will show Nier that it's not too late to change and he will do it with all the strength he can muster.

* * *

It is a dreadfully familiar scenario. An outstretched hand, accompanied with the promise of love and acceptance. She reached for that hand over and over before and without fail it all ended in tragedy.

But this boy, who has persisted to the point of insanity, who she fought countless times and lost every single time, who gave her another chance even as she tried to take his life...he is different. Nier realizes she has never felt so frightened before in this moment.

"That option doesn't exist... which is why I wanted to destroy the world…" she says.

"Don't throw in the towel just yet. We'll help you figure it out together!" The little red lizard replies, grinning.

"Together…" Nier repeats.

This is a hallucination. A wonderful delusion caused by hunger and pain. She's lying on the ground on the streets asleep and she'll wake up any minute now. She pinches her wrist, drawing blood, and her surroundings do not change. Death's resonance pulses through her, intertwining with her heartbeat.

"B-but if you're with me, you might be attacked again like earlier...Wouldn't that... be a problem?" Nier asks.

"We'll deal with that when it happens. If you're the reason anyone ever comes after us, we'll be the first to apologize for you." The girl in blue replies, her voice true and clear. "We'll show them just how sorry we are until they finally forgive you!"

Their words are smothering, yet without deception. Nier ducks her head away from their gazes, stares down at her hands matted with dirt and grime. Sucks in the dry air laced with traces of Gran's dried blood. Tries to keep her mind anchored in rationality against the pounding of her heart.

The sane thing to do would be to decline their offer. Magicians, even ones as undisciplined as her, don't grow without learning to recognize patterns. She doesn't know what she'll do, but anything's better than getting her hopes up and shattering them again. She tells herself that over and over until the words do not sound like words but the yearning inside of her refuses to vanish.

Even after betrayal after betrayal, even after aligning herself with the Arcarum, even after sending Gran and his crew into the memories of the War, there was always a small fragment inside that longed for her to be accepted and loved by this world. Once an ember, it is now a raging fire cutting a path through the darkness. All she has to do take the initiative to grasp it.

She swallows, mulling over her options. She's a craven young girl, stumbling through life with nary a success to her name, and her wish is considered pathetic and childish by so many, and yet...

"You wouldn't mind being around me? And helping me find a new path in life?" She waits for an answer, hoping, pleading…

Gran smiles back at her, "We'll be with you every step of the way."

He does not mock her wish at all. Their eyes lock once more and she sees hope and kindness and charity and all the things she has dreamed of and it is all sincere. She cannot help it. Her tears flow and with them the last of her restraints crumble away.

"O-okay... I'll come along then... with all of you…" Nier says, grasping his hand once more. "Gran, I'll do anything you ask from now on. You only need to give the word. I'll follow you to the ends of the skies..."

She moves forward and embraces her new captain. He pauses in surprise at first, but returns the favor by wrapping his strong arms around her back. A serene smile flutters across Nier's lips.

_You're the one, right Gran? The one whom I've been searching for all this time?_

_You've bested me countless times. I know what skyfarers say about warriors that face each other in battle. We understand each other now. I'll devote my body and soul to you. I'll crush your enemies to dust. So…_

_Look at me. Talk to me. Appreciate me. Hold me. Cherish me. _

_Please, I beg of you, don't abandon me._

(Thus, their contract is sealed.)

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to write about Fraux and then halfway through researching the Evokers I realized I like Nier more. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Originally intended this to be a oneshot but I have since decided to make it a collection of tales starring Nier and her life in the crew, because the idea of inviting an insane mass murderer onto a crew of generally good people is worth exploring
> 
> This is my first time writing something serious and emotive so feedback would be appreciated. I'm also in the market for a beta because those are pretty darn useful.
> 
> (Edit: This is now part of a series. Will be updated as I see fit).


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